Breaking the Silence (Romper el Silencio) Education Pack

The Breaking the Silence Education Pack is a set of communication tools and educational resources that are designed to encourage dialogue around the armed conflict that affected Colombia for over 60 years, and to help people understand their violent past and to build a more peaceful future. The ultimate goal of the Breaking the Silence strategy is to strengthen democracy and create an understanding of the power structures behind the war.

The Education Pack is intended for students between 12 and 17 years old, as well as teachers, parents, and guardians. In particular, it is designed to be used in the classroom environment and to strengthen the resources that teachers have at their disposal to cover the Basic Learning Rights (DBA) and the Competencies in Social Studies, Spanish and Arts for the eighth and ninth grades.

The objectives of the Breaking the Silence initiative and the materials are to:

• Arouse the curiosity of the students about the recent history of the Colombian armed conflict.
• Contribute to the understanding of what happened in the history of the last decades of the armed conflict in Colombia and, from there, to contribute to the non-repetition of war and peace-building.
• Generate empathy in students towards the people around them and in particular, towards the victims of the conflict.
• Promote the transformative action of young people in their educational institutions and communities to contribute to democratic coexistence and the construction of peace.

The Breaking the Silence educational pack is based on the edutainment methodology. It is made up of various audiovisual resources, which include the television series "El Silencio" and its novelised or book version. It is an adventure series featuring young people and reflects the reality of Colombian people who are still, despite the peace that has been established, influenced by the armed conflict in their daily lives (see Related Summaries, below). The pack also contains monologues and video profiles of each of the main characters in the series, who talk about who they are in relation to the conflict and what they think about the conflict. It also includes a series of three 25-minute documentaries (State, Insurgencies, and Paramilitarism) and 17 short pieces (testimonies and expert opinions), as well as a 7-episode podcast series that seeks to trace and celebrate the dignity and resistance initiatives of different communities across Colombia through their music (see Related Summaries, below).

The educational package is structured around dialogues. Using the above resources (the television series, documentaries, and podcasts), the project has developed dialogue tools to help students to carry out democratic dialogues that are empathetic and respectful of the life stories of their classmates and other people in the country who have lived through the armed conflict. These activities are intended to generate or strengthen trust within the group, foster empathy, and promote active listening and free expression without judgment or recrimination of others or their opinions. The idea behind the conversations is that citizens will gain a better understanding of what happened over the last sixty years and promote the formation of critical, empathetic, and rational historical thinking, which in turn will help people identify efforts that should be undertaken to overcome the conditions that lead to the violent handling of conflicts.

The following are some of the materials that have been produced to be used in conjunction with the television series and other multimedia products mentioned above:

Conceptual framework: This resource outlines the pedaegogical methodology and the conceptual foundations that inspire the set of resources that make up Breaking the Silence: the adventure series, the documentaries, the podcasts, the profiles, and the guides.

Content catalogue: This catalogue is meant to help users navigate, understand, and, above all, use the set of resources offered by the Breaking the Silence strategy. It contains a description of the strategy and the intended audience, a brief introduction to the methodology and the conceptual framework that supports it, an outline of the value of the Breaking the Silence curriculum, and a summary of the materials for the classroom. It also contains complementary strategies to expand the implementation of Breaking the Silence.

Field diary and personal diary: These diaries contain a set of activities that are designed to help students to attentively and consciously watch the television series "El Silencio" and to use the three dialogues that make up this package. At the same time, it designed to guide students in delving into complex issues around: the armed conflict; the transition to peace, truth, justice, and reparation; and the emotions that are brought up when discussing them. It is divided into two parts: the Field Notebook for observation and analysis following the viewing of the television series, and the Personal Notebook for the students' private reflections on their emotional world and how it has potentially changed as a result of the programme.

Dialogue tools: Dialogues are used as a way to reflect on complex issues in which disagreements, conflicts, or strongly opposing positions may appear. The dialogues should invite students to listen openly to the other, even if they think differently, and to acknowledge their argument, while understanding that diverse notions of justice and social solutions are influenced by one's social, political, and cultural context. Although agreements or consensus will not always be reached, it will be possible to consolidate a position and to build new forms of thought and collective action. These dialogues are oriented, in particular, towards understanding:

• The values ​​and practices that feed both the violent resolution of conflicts and its counterpart, the democratic procedure;
• The contributions of the truth to move from the conflict to democratic coexistence;
• Restorative justice and its contribution to the processing of the past;
• Symbolic reparation and validation of the voice of the victims; and
• The historical understanding of the armed conflict and its contribution to non-repetition of violence and the construction of peace.

The education pack includes the following dialogue tools:

• Let's Get Ready for the Dialogue: This tool will help establish the rules for the conversations that will take place in class: what is a dialogue and what it is not, what is valid and what is not, what are the roles and responsibilities of each person, and how conclusions will be drawn in the end.
• Let's Turn Our Heads to the Past (Dialogue 1): This dialogue focuses on the truth and an understanding of Colombian history. It looks at the role or relevance that the truth has in the process of democratic transition and especially in understanding the past. This strategy is seen as one of the fundamental avenues to avoid repetition of the past and to begin to rebuild and strengthen democracy based on respect, harmony, and tolerance. It seeks to deepen understanding of three topics: kidnapping, forced disappearance, and child recruitment.
• That Differences Do not Damage the Friendship (Dialogue 2): The second dialogue looks at the fundamental issue of the handling of conflict and the impact it has had on Colombian democracy, and the fact that Colombians cannot or have not learned to deal with conflict or dissent through ways other than force. This element has, for example, harmed Colombian democracy and impeded the organisation of representative and participatory political movements and parties. The resource delves into three topics: women, social leadership, and persecution; ethnic discrimination and cultural marginalisation in indigenous peoples; and democracy, participation, and political dissidence.
• And Now How Do We Do It? (Dialogue 3): This dialogue is developed around the question of justice, because it is also one of the fundamental components to pave the way towards democratic transition. Students are invited to think about the issue of reparation of victims and how to face certain damages caused by the armed conflict. It looks at what some of the actions and strategies can be for the state and for civil society to repair the impacts of the war on people and communities, and what can be done for all to enjoy life under democracy in Colombia. It delves into three topics: how to practice justice that supports reparation; other justice-related issues; and listening as part of reparation.
• Let's Get Ready for Dialogue - Guide for Teachers: This guide contains the methodology for using the package and step-by-step instructions on how to use the discussion guides and the multimedia materials.

These materials will be made available when the Breaking the Silence strategy is launched.